


You and I'd be a tough act to follow

by turnitintolove



Series: There's no business like show business [1]
Category: Agent Carter (TV)
Genre: F/F, Modern Theatre AU, and everyone knows it except Peggy, fluffy fluff fluff, in which Angie has a huge crush on her stage manager
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-07 23:47:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4282581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/turnitintolove/pseuds/turnitintolove
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course everyone loves Peggy, Angie is not alone in that feeling.  But she thinks she might be the only one who’s a little bit (or a lot) in love with her.  She’s just so nice, and beautiful, and she knows how to ease the tension from the rehearsal room with a well-timed comment.  She’s also super hot when she tells everyone what to do.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You and I'd be a tough act to follow

This is their third show together in four years. You could say they were destined to be together, or that’s what Angie would tell anyone if she wasn’t afraid of being made fun of. Because _of course_ everyone loves Peggy, Angie is not alone in that feeling. But she thinks she might be the only one who’s a little bit (or a lot) _in_ love with her. She’s just so nice, and beautiful, and she knows how to ease the tension from the rehearsal room with a well-timed comment. She’s also super hot when she tells everyone what to do.

Angie’s pretty sure that Gloria knows what’s up. She caught her staring and Angie hadn’t been able to hide the deep flush of her cheeks. Gloria slid her eyes to where Peggy was kneeling in front of one of the child actors to explain something to him and gave Angie the biggest evil smile she had seen.

As soon as they called the next ten minute break, Gloria appeared at Angie’s side to wrap her in a tight hug.

“Will you please stop?” Angie tried to wiggle out of her grip.

“Angie has a crush!” Gloria whispered and she squeezed harder.

“Can you not?” Angie deadpanned.

“Oh don’t be like that. You haven’t looked at anyone like that since –”

“No. We don’t speak the name of the devil here. Or ever. We don’t speak the name of the devil anywhere.”

“Fine, that’s totally fair. But you have got it so bad.” Gloria finally released her hold on Angie as she led them to the pot of fresh coffee.

“Who’s got it bad?” Michael, the ten year old actor that Peggy was talking to asks.

“Nobody’s got anything bad, kid. Don’t worry about it.” Angie gives him her best smile and moves to pour herself a cup of coffee.

“Oh, okay.” Michael stares up at Angie with his big brown eyes before he walks away.

“That kid has it so bad for you.” Gloria laughs.

“He does not. He’s just a sweet little guy.” Angie shrugs, pouring several packets of sugar into her coffee.

“Uh, yes he does. You two could have a doe eyed staring contest and I’m not actually sure who’d win.”

Angie turns and glares at her friend, stirring her coffee and blowing on the steam. “You’re an idiot.”

Gloria ignores her comment, “Please stop putting that much sugar in your coffee. Remember what happened in college?”

“I thought we didn’t talk about that either.”

“What do you not talk about?” Peggy’s voice startles Angie and she spills her hot coffee on both of her hands.

“Aw shit, that’s hot.” Angie hisses, putting her cup down on the table and grabbing for the roll of paper towels to clean herself up.

“I’m so sorry, I certainly didn’t mean to startle you.” Peggy apologizes, pouring Angie a new cup of coffee and grabbing four sugar packets to tear open and stir in.

Gloria grins, “Well, we were talking about the time in college when Angie here had too much sugared up coffee before a performance of _West Side Story_ and actually shot Chino during the last scene.”

“It was during midterms.” Angie says to defend herself.

Peggy chuckles and hands Angie her fresh cup of coffee, “One day I’ll have to tell you about Howard and his midterm production.” She smiles at Angie, a hint of mischief in her eyes. “Please excuse me, I need to have a word with Howard about this afternoon’s schedule.”

Gloria stands to the side to allow Peggy room to pass, her eyes never leaving Peggy’s face. Her own face breaks into a knowing grin and she gently pokes Angie’s side. “Oh this is going to be fun!”

“I already spilled coffee once, can you not?” She wiggles away from Gloria’s touch and switches her coffee to her other hand. “And what is going to be fun?”

“Oh you’ll find out eventually.” Gloria grins again, this time laughing at Angie’s put out face. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“You’re a pain in the ass.” Angie mutters, taking a sip of her fresh coffee.

Gloria isn’t the only one to catch her small smile as she holds her mug to hide it.

* * *

Because Angie’s worked with Peggy a lot over the last few years, she’s seen a lot of different sides of her favorite stage manager.

Angie knows that when Peggy is frustrated her mouth sets into a straight line and she types like her computer can absorb her frustration. Her voice is also even and a little deeper. This usually happens when their director, Broadway’s “it boy” Howard Stark, does or says something Peggy deems ridiculous. She’s usually right, and it happens a lot.

When Peggy is tired she drinks more coffee than any human should. She also wears her glasses. Which Angie finds adorable.

Angry Peggy is scary Peggy. But also a little bit sexy because she has this fierce determination to fix whatever has gone wrong. Angie only likes to watch Angry Peggy from a distance; where she can watch the way her shoulders square and tense as she walks towards the problem. She’s only seen Angry Peggy twice, and she knows she never wants to see Peggy walk like that towards her. Angie would rather walk through midtown on Easter Sunday for eternity than experience that.

Happy Peggy is definitely Angie’s favorite. Her smile lights up the room and she has a small bounce in her step. It’s the days where Peggy really loves what she does; a great rehearsal, a smooth performance, an opening night. Her confidence rolls off of her in gentle waves and her smile is infectious. If Peggy is happy, anyone she comes across will be too.

Today though, Angie gets to experience first hand what Concerned Peggy is like. One of the actors had been horsing around during some scene work and smacked Angie in the side of the head with a foam bat.

Peggy had taken Angie to a quiet corner of the room while one of the production assistants ran to get an icepack for her. She holds Angie’s head gently between her hands and looks between her eyes. “How do you feel?”

“Like an idiot hit me in the head with a bat.” Angie tells her.

Peggy smiles, her thumb gently running over the rising bump near her temple. The young production assistant hands Peggy the ice pack, he opens his mouth to say something before realizing that Peggy has everything under control.

“Are you dizzy?” Peggy’s voice is quiet, she gently presses the icepack to the side of Angie’s face.

“A little.” She flinches when the icepack touches her bruising flesh.

“Vision blurry?” Peggy takes Angie’s hand and moves it to hold the icepack against her own head. Once it’s secured she takes the sharpie clipped to the front of her shirt and tracks it in front of Angie’s eyes, watching the way they move in time with the pen.

“Not really. Just a real bad headache coming on.” She sighs.

“Why don’t you relax for a bit, and we’ll have Carol walk your part?” Peggy tells her and Angie knows it isn’t a suggestion. She allows Peggy to pull her to her feet and lead her to the chairs that line the side of the room. “Can I get you anything else?”

“Some aspirin would be great.” Angie adjusts herself in the chair and leans back.

“Coming right up, darling.”

When Angie closes her eyes against the pain she doesn’t see the way Howard follows Peggy’s movements with a knowing smirk not unlike Gloria’s.

* * *

Angie loves tech. She knows that she’s in the minority, but she loves it. She loves being in the theatre and seeing how everything comes together. Her character feels more complete with the costumes and wigs and the scenery. The hours are long and there are a lot of new names to learn, but she enjoys every painstaking hour.

She does not enjoy the props guy who can’t take a hint.

He always manages to find where she’s standing backstage. Most of the small talk had been fine. He had asked about her previous shows, where she had gone to school, how she liked the show.

“A bunch of us are going out tonight, I’ll buy.” Jack asks, only he doesn’t seem to ask.

“Oh thanks, Jack. But I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m crazy tired and I really need the sleep. Rain check?” She isn’t lying when she says that she’s tired, it’s been a really long week.

“Ah but you said that last week.” He leans against the wall that she’s standing next to.

“And I meant it last week too.” Angie sighs.

“Come on, one drink. I’ll make it worth your while.” He smiles what Angie thinks he must think is charming. She doesn’t think he’s used to hearing a woman turn him down.

“You don’t get turned down very much do you?” She decides to cut to straight to the point.

“Wait, what?” He crosses his arms and takes a small step towards Angie.

“You’re not used to getting turned down. I mean, you’re not bad looking but you’re kind of a dick.” He scoffs, “You are. And you can probably be charming when you’re not looking for an easy lay. But I gotta tell you Jack,” Angie punctuates his name and pats his chest, “you’re barking up the wrong tree.”

Jack just stares dumbly at her, “And why is that?”

“Well, for starters you’d need to undergo a rather life changing transition. And I’m not talking about your personality. Better luck next time buddy.” She lightly punches his arm and steps into the wing, waiting to hear her cue to enter.

Daniel, one of the other carpenters laughs quietly to himself.

“What are you laughing at?” Jack crosses and uncrosses his arms, trying to hide his embarrassment.

“Everyone knows she has it bad for Peggy, except I think for Peggy. Did you breathe in too many fumes again?” Daniel chuckles again. “Maybe she has a friend.”

“Shut up.” Jack pushes himself off of the wall and walks to another corner of the set to sulk.

“You can stop hiding, I know you’re there.” Daniel calls behind one of the set pieces.

Peggy clears her throat, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Uh huh. Sure thing Carter.”

* * *

Two weeks into previews and Angie starts to feel the exhaustion really set it. It doesn’t help that it is full on blizzarding out either. Angie has lived in New York her whole life, she’s used to the winters. But this year seems to be the worst, it just won’t stop snowing.

So the snow, the dry air in the theatre, the long hours, and eight shows a week has started to wear Angie down. But she’s one of the principals for the first time, so she puts on a good face and doesn’t let the rest of the company see how tired she is. She figures if they can see that she’s pushing through, then it’ll help the general morale of the company.

Angie isn’t wrong. When the rest of the cast sees that she’s all smiles, despite the long hours, they leave their frustrations outside and work together. It’s a quality that Peggy greatly admires. Although she seems to be the only one who catches Angie at her weakest.

She’s curled up on the sofa in her dressing room during the dinner break. Peggy had gone in to let her know that the wig schedule had changed, only to find her conked out, half on/half off of her sofa. Peggy had watched her for a moment, a fond smile gracing her face.

“Oh you sweet sweet girl.” Peggy whispers, moving into the room to adjust Angie so that she’s completely on the sofa, covering her with the throw blanket that had fallen to the ground. She watches her for another moment, the gentle rise and fall of her chest and the way she mutters some of the new lines they’d just added to the script that day. It’s intimate in a way that takes Peggy by surprise. She lets herself wonder for just a moment what it would be like to come home to this. To Angie.

Peggy shakes her head and quietly backs out of the room. She returns a few minutes later, a few packets of Emergen-C and a cup of Ricola in her hands. She sets them on Angie’s counter and takes another lingering look at her sleeping form before leaving once again, making sure the _I’m sleeping_ sign is visible on her door.

When Angie wakes up twenty minutes later, she smiles at the small care package on her table and at the lingering smell of Peggy’s perfume. She pulls the blanket a little tighter around her shoulders and tries to rid herself of a grin she’s sure gives her away.

* * *

In the weeks leading up to opening night, Angie and Peggy gravitate towards each other with a pull neither of them seem to notice. Peggy finds herself near Angie before and after her big number, always checking to make sure she’s okay. And Angie keeps finding reasons to be near the stage management office. The office that is on the other side of the theatre, and two floors up.

They don’t seem to notice, but their friends do.

“Miss Martinelli, what can we do for you this afternoon?” Edwin, their production stage manager asks, but he doesn’t seem surprised to see her.

“Oh, uh. Is Peggy around?” Angie leans against the doorframe, searching the small room like Peggy might be hiding behind the printer.

“She’s down in the basement dealing with something. Anything I can help you with?” He tries not to smile, he’s been watching the two of them awkwardly dance around each other for months. And he’s rather bored of hearing Peggy sigh whenever Angie starts to sing.

“Nah, it’s not important. Thanks Mr. Fancy.” Angie turns and starts down the flight of stairs.

“I have a name, you know.” He calls after her.

“I know.” She calls up.

Peggy returns to the office a few minutes later, muttering about how departments can’t communicate and that she isn’t _a bloody telephone operator._

“Miss Martinelli was looking for you.” Jarvis tells her while he types away at his laptop.

“Oh?” Peggy answers, voice higher than usual. She clears her throat, “Did she say why?”

“Most likely to inform you that she’d like to have your children.” He tells her dryly.

“Excuse me?” Peggy stares at the back of his head.

“You heard me Miss Carter. And if I may share some advice that you gave me not so long ago; bloody get on with it.”

Peggy huffs and sits heavily onto her chair, dropping her head into her hands.

* * *

Gloria takes a more direct approach.

“If you don’t make out with her, I will.” She’s sitting on Angie’s sofa during their dinner break. Opening night is in two days and she’s helping Angie pick a dress.

“You just got engaged.” Angie points to a dress on the screen and Gloria shakes her head.

“He’d understand. It’s for the greater good.”

“You’re the worst.”

“I’m the best. Oh that one!” She points to the dress on Angie’s screen; a light blue, floor length lace gown that will bring out the color of her eyes. “You know where it’s going to look good?” Angie glares, daring her to continue. “On Peggy’s –”

“Shut up.”

* * *

Opening night goes well and the reviews aren’t bad. Most of them claim Angie is the breakout star, quietly stealing scenes with a _presence that just can’t be taught._ When she arrives at the party she’s rushed in front of the step and repeat; answering questions for the press and posing for photos with her cast members. It takes her almost an hour to reach the bar. When she does, she’s relieved to find it quiet, and away from the noise of the party.

Angie holds her glass of wine and leans on the bar, watching her friends mill around and take photos as they congratulate each other.

“You were wonderful tonight.” Peggy’s voice is quiet, so as not to startle her as she comes up behind her.

“Oh, thanks English. Tonight was fun!” Angie smiles, turning to face Peggy and then stopping to take her in. She’s in red, which is a nice change to the black she’s been wearing for weeks now. The dress hugs her in a way that Angie finds sinfully delicious, her mind wandering and her eyes glazing over. “You look delicious.” Angie’s cheeks turn pink and she downs her glass of wine, quickly turning and heading for the other side of the room.

Peggy watches her walk away, an amused smile on her face. She turns to the bartender, “I’ll have two of whatever she had.”

It takes Peggy a few minutes to find Angie again. When she does, she sees that she’s animatedly speaking to Gloria, who looks like she’s had her own bottle of wine.

“…and now I need to go live on Mars.” Angie huffs while Gloria laughs, putting her wine glass down on a table to grab Angie by the shoulders.

“You told her she looked delicious? Angie, sweet precious Angie.” It’s then that Gloria sees Peggy standing a few feet behind Angie, holding two wine glasses and looking slightly amused. She turns Angie around and wraps an arm around her shoulders.

Angie groans and tries to pull away from her grip, “What are you, the hulk?”

“That is a nice dress Peggy. Don’t you think Peggy looks nice, Angie?” Gloria sways a little on her feet, her smile getting wider.

“I know where you live.” Angie mutters under her breath.

“You know where that dress would look great Angie?”

“I hate you.” Angie whispers, because she knows she can’t stop Gloria when she is this determined.

“On your floor.” Gloria smiles triumphantly and shoves Angie towards Peggy, whispering, “You’re welcome.”

Angie stares at Peggy with wide eyes. She watches Peggy put the two wine glasses down and step towards her with confident strides.

“I’m so so–” Angie’s words are cut off when Peggy gently cups her face and pulls her into a kiss that Angie quickly melts into. Her hands resting low on Peggy’s hips and squeezing when Peggy nips at her lower lip.

Peggy’s kisses give Angie that same feeling she gets when she’s standing on stage. She never wants it to stop. But when Peggy pulls away and whispers, “She isn’t wrong.” Angie has to remember that she’s standing in the middle of a party. Somewhere in the back of her mind she registers their friends taking photos and not so subtly whisper “finally.”

“What?” Her brain is fuzzy; drunk on the way Peggy’s body feels pressed to close to hers.

“My dress _is_ going to look great on the floor.” Peggy whispers, kissing Angie again and pulling her towards the door.

Angie doesn’t tell Gloria that she was wrong; it was Angie’s dress on Peggy’s floor. And that everything about Peggy _is_ delicious.

**Author's Note:**

> So I do this thing called theatre for a living and sometimes I forget that not everyone knows the phrases we use. If there is any confusion, please ask and I'll elaborate.
> 
> Also I'm on the tumblr: jellysnack.tumblr.com
> 
> Title comes from the musical Curtains.


End file.
